45 pct of Afghan election votes re-counted

KABUL, Aug. 17 (Xinhua)-- Spokesman for Afghan election commission Noor Mohammad Noor said Sunday that 45 percent of the votes cast in the second round of the presidential election held on June 14, had been completed.

"So far 10,231 ballot boxes or 45 percent of the whole ballot boxes have been re-counted," Noor said at a press conference here.

The total number of ballot boxes is 22,828, he said, adding the re-counting process is going on and the election commission would do its best to complete the auditing and re-counting process of the votes in its earliest.

Re-counting process of the votes, cast in June 14 Afghan presidential runoff began on July 17 during which the chairman election commission Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani promised to complete the process within three to four weeks.

However, President Hamid Karzai has said that the result of the presidential election should be announced by the end of August.

KABUL, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) -- Anti-government armed militants have abducted aid workers including de-miners in the militancy-plagued Afghanistan and in the latest such attack the armed insurgents kidnapped a group of de-miners in the southern Ghazni province 125 km south of national capital Kabul Saturday night.Full story